Legislators should be tested, too

If our lawmakers really want to start 2015 properly, they ought to adopt a New Year's resolution: The standards they apply to others should apply to them as well.

Last month, the Michigan Legislature passed a pilot program that would require welfare recipients suspected of drug use to be tested. If they fail the test more than once, they would lose their cash benefits.

The point, of course, is to make sure people on the public dole don't abuse the kindness. Welfare assistance is supposed to help recipients get back on their feet, not underwrite their drug habits.

Moreover, it is wrong to expose children to drug abuse. If government can use welfare benefits to get recipients to toe the line, what's wrong with that?

Just one thing: Since our elected officials want to make sure welfare recipients are drug-free, they should set the example. They ought to be drug-tested, too.

The purpose is the same for both lawmakers and welfare recipients: Accountability to state taxpayers.

In our legislators' case, though, drug testing shouldn't be prompted by suspicion. It should be mandatory.

After all, drug testing is widely used in the private sector and parts of the public sector. The practice is defended as a basic means of ensuring job performances aren't affected by drug abuse, a requirement that helps verify employees deserve the money they're paid.

We expect much from the leaders we elect. So it stands to reason that they regularly assure us they are doing their jobs without the use of illegal substances.

Let this be our lawmakers' New Year's resolution — that requiring welfare recipients to be drug-tested should come with our legislators leading the way — and any who fail the test more than once should lose his or her pay.

We are certain, of course, that the drug tests lawmakers submit to would turn up negative results. But they would go a long way toward showing that they lead by example, something we need to see more frequently.

Monthly drug tests seem about right. What better way to raise our lawmakers' standing? What better message to send than that they're willing to take the medicine they prescribe?